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best wishes for the second issue and till then with kind regards. magazine should be newsworthy for the entire society and not just Prakash Mody
- P
one center. This is our personal view, but ultimately it is the readers who should have the final say, and Editors should conform to the wishes of the community at large. - Guest Editorial Team. Dear Chetanbhai, Sorry for the late congratulations. I received the Jain Digest few weeks back and it looked great. The layout, printing and the articles were fantastic. I know it is a lot of work to put this together and execute at this level, but you and your team did a great job and I am sure the JAINA Members must have all reacted as positively as I did. -Rajeev Pandya Jai Jinendra, Prints are too small. It is hard to read. I do not think older generation can read it. Too many articles and too little news. Digest should come on time. MIS does not have any meaning if it comes this late. May be MIS section should be
removed. Rajendra
Jai Jinendra Chetanbhai,
As regards the last issue, I am forwarding some criticisms from our Toronto readers.
1) Many people got the issue rather late, some did not get it all. The head of Pathshala, Ramesh Varia did not receive last but one issue of Jain Digest. I hope he got
the last one.
2) Many people go for the page of local news when they open Jain Digest. That is understandable because they can relate to people and events in the news. Now that the format is changed, they were disappointed.
Moreover, the information in tabulated format was too
much for 'average' reader and they tended to skip those
pages.
3) Most of them enjoyed articles on varied topics and the layout.
Keep up the good work. - Mahendra Mehta, Toronto. Very good feedback. We have made a few modifications to the format to make this issue more readable. We believe Jain Digest is meant to bring the entire Jain Society of NA closer. The information in this
Beavers go to school
On side of a stream lived a family of Beavers in a nice dome like wooden structure. The family consisted of the Papa Beaver, Mama Beaver, two sons and baby of the family was cute black nosed daughter. The sons were always up to some mischief stealing twigs from their neighbors and trying to make some house of their own, or troubling their little sister. In order to avoid her naughty brothers, the little beaver girl will accompany her father and patiently watch him construction various wooden structures along the stream. As time passed all the three children had grown quite old and it was time for them to attend the Beaver School. The sons were quite excited about the adventure, but little daughter was uncomfortable about leaving the comfort and protection of her parents home. Finally after some convincing all the three children left for their advance education in some distant mountain. In the first week the Beavers are taught how to use their sharp teeth and the front claws to build different classes of structures. The eldest son, who had lot of practice cutting twigs and connecting them, had not problem in putting the structures together. At the end of the week he told his teacher that he was wasting his time, as he knew all the stuff that was being taught. He left the class and went back to his village at the end of the week. The week turned out to be more interesting. They were taught the use of their long tail. Using the tail and the downstream water force they learn how to use water as a force multiplier to build various structures. At the end of the second week the teacher told them that the lectures were over but they could stay back for few more weeks if they so desire. The second son saw no purpose of wasting his time and left for the village. However, the daughter remained back observing and helping her teacher. After a couple of week the teacher told her that he was proud of her and asked her to return as streams would get flooded very soon as the rainy season was about to begin. All the three Beaver were busy building a new home for themselves. The eldest was the first to finish his structure; it was a nice wooden dome at the edge of the stream. The second son decided to build his home at a little elevation also on the edge of the stream. His dome was a little smaller but the walls were quite thick. The third Beaver Girl was spending most time swimming up and down the stream building a dam. After finishing her
Jain Education International
JAIN DIGEST⚫ Winter 2007
Jai Jinendra, We truly appreciate your efforts and dedication
towards your contribution to Jain Digest. We really enjoyed the last issue (Fall 2006). It is very informative and inspiring. Articles on Tapasyäs, Paryushan, messages from Samaniji, Pandits and several, scholars were truly inspiring to all of us.
Pradip and Darshana Shah, Teachers, Jain Pathshala, Jain Society of Chicago
"FAMILY CORNER "
dam she built her home on an island in the middle of the stream. It was a nice size dome, but did not look very elegant as the stones covered most of the view. While, the boys would proudly show-off their domes to rest of the village, nobody bothered to see the daughter's home. Soon the rains began, the water level in the stream began to rise. On one stormy evening the rapids in the stream swept the eldest brothers house. He was forced to move to his brother's house which was at a higher elevation and thus safe from the floods. Few days later, on one night when the brothers were resting three foxes encircled their house. By the time they realized the danger it was too late to escape as they were fully surrounded. The foxes were banging their dome and even the powerful thick wall would not last for long. The noises woke their sister up and she realized the danger to her brothers. She immediately swam upstream toward her dam, flapping her tail to warn all the other beavers of the imminent danger. She immediately pulled the lever of the dam and the whole dam came crumbling down and with that come a huge gush of water. The force of the water was so strong that it swept all the foxes with her brother's house. Her brothers' lives were saved. Finally, their full family realized the smartness of this little daughter and they all moved into her house.
In our story the beaver girl went through three stages of education. The first stage was by observation and fine-tuning the skills that were in-born in a beaver. The second stage involved learning new skill from her teacher. The final stage was the most critical, the little beaver not only practiced under the watchful eyes of her teacher, she had also leant to improvise new techniques. This was the point went the teacher ask her to leave. According to our Jain teaching, Samyag Darshan (Right Belief or Perception), Samyag-Inän (Right Knowledge) and Samyag Charitra (Right Conduct) together constitute the path to liberation. These three basic components are called Ratna-Trayi, or the three jewels, in Jain works. Of the three Samyag Charitra is the most difficult; it involves the actual practice of the religion. It is in this stage when one frees from attachment (Räga), infatuation (Moha), and aversion (Dvesha). The last stage may require a careful guidance of a guru, or one may reach a stage where one own soul would direct itself toward the ultimate Moksha.
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